Architects Joan Soranno and John Cook of HGA developed five site-specific cabins that tread lightly on the land at Marlboro College in rural Vermont. These deceptively simple structures update the regional vernacular. Every year, Marlboro College hosts the Marlboro Music Festival in which classical musicians join together to hone their craft. These cabins help support the musicians that live, work, and rehearse together.

Our expert spent an arvo lounging on chaise longues to decide which would make the short list.

The entire family makes good use of the music room, where they hold public and private Sunday concerts with local and international musicians.

In one area of the apartment, Tagliabue’s son, Domenec, plays drums in front of a sliding wood panel of the architects’ design.

The Balancing Barn in Suffolk: On the edge of a nature reserve a few miles from the Suffolk coast, the MVRDV-designed Balancing Barn cantilevers over the surrounding meadow.

The clients intend to retire to the house. They asked that rooms be constructed flexibly on a non-domestic scale. This one, with an Eames lounge and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, frames a serene mountain vista like a painting.

New interior finishes, furniture, and a guesthouse were part of the restoration/renovation of John Lautner's Chemosphere, a 1960s house that makes frequent cameos in film and television.

Brill's practice area features a ’50s Wurlitzer piano and a mid-’60s Ludwig drum kit. For acoustics, the architect insulated the walls with two layers of Sheetrock stuffed with denim insulation. The floor is made of pegboard—an unusual, albeit cost-effective, material choice.

Set on a desert lot in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Byrne Residence is a signature design by William P. Bruder, FAIA. Since its construction, the dwelling has been featured in dozens of publications, including the Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture.

Steel panels line a walkway that connects the structure with its sloping lot.

Near the entrance is the front room, or music room, their daughter’s current favorite play area. “Every space needed to be used efficiently,” Parisien notes of the home’s remodel.

Choosing not to make a big to-do of itself, this cottage blends in with its surroundings. A wall of glass on one end allows a merger of the outdoors with the interiors, while white trim leaves the appearance of a snow-kissed façade year-round. Berlin, Germany. By Atelier st Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

Transformer or beach hut? Positioned in a coastal erosion zone, this holiday retreat for a family of five is completely capable of being relocated. An oversized shutter allows for protection from the elements when not in use and opens to allow sun in during the winter or provide shade on hot summer days. Waikato, New Zealand. By Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects, from the book Rock the Shack, Copyright Gestalten 2013.

The ever-changing, lush wooded surroundings of Minnesota, such as those experienced at this 8,000-square-foot Type Variant House outside of Minneapolis designed by Coen and Partners, are right near the small town of New Richland.

AIA architect David Hertz, known for 747 Wing House, looked to the structure of a butterfly wing when designing this Venice home. The inverted roof of Silver Triangle House (or Butterfly House) captures water that collects in a sump and is used for subsurface irrigation. The roof is just one of the home's sustainable features, which, Hertz says, "are not compromises to the design; they're part of the design." Photo by Laura Doss.

A Chilean home’s dramatic stained-pine exterior references local vernacular architecture.

Russell's Drawn to Music notebook, which features a built-in record sleeve, encourages you to doodle while listening to your favorite tunes. A line at the bottom of each page prompts you to note what you’re listening to as you draw.

The Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin, designed by Russian firm SPEECH Tchoban & Kuznetsov, has a wooden door that mimics the structure's textured concrete exterior.

DAVID CHIPPERFIELD "First his studio, then his home. David Chipperfield chose Berlin, after the city commissioned him to rebuild the Neues Museum in 1997. It is in the same neighborhood, Mitte. In the courtyard that contains both his house and his studio, Chipperfield also designed a canteen, a place where locals meet. The house is built of concrete, with large windows overlooking the street and the courtyard. It contains a few ‘50s and ‘60s Italian furnishings, and two colours. The green of a velvet sofa and the orange of a bookcase that divides the space between the kitchen and the sitting room." Photo by Davide Pizzigoni.

Shulman's shot of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House No. 22 in 1960 became one of the most iconic photographs of modern U.S. architecture and many felt like it encapsulated Los Angeles during at that time. Shulman ultimately photographed 18 of the 26 Case Study Houses commissioned by Arts & Architecture magazine. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute

Women in Architecture Survey: According to the results of the Architect’s Journal Women in Architecture survey, the pay in the architecture field is still unequal and discrimination is common.

The Andersen Architectural Collection’s Eagle windows and doors provide the panes and passageways of the home.

A glazed facade opens to picturesque views of the saguaro-studded terrain. Concrete floors contrast with the plywood ceiling and other wooden features.

The bathroom. Austin sourced most of the materials from Architectural Salvage of San Diego.

Byrne Residence. Pinnacle Peak, Scottsdale, Arizona

Seen here, a sinuous rosewood music rack from 1980 along with Castle's original sketches."Castle should be better known, but in fact he is pretty well known among certain design circles, museums, and collectors," says Gordon. "I think he might be much more famous if he'd died a tragically young death in some violent American fashion and limited his output."

Formerly known as the Android Market, Google Play is a an Android phone-exclusive digital application that allows users to browse and download various types of media, such as music, books, movies, television shows, and apps published through Google. Here, Gison's design on the Android phone.

A balancing act, an earlier concept.

Tablet version.

Illustration for the launch of Google Play Music All Access by San Francisco-based graphic designer Zachary Gibson.